Living in a country that is not really ready to go green but it is a bit difficult to say or write something smart about IT and go green.
waiting at a traffic light I suddenly noticed that the car in front of me opened the back window of the passenger door and bang, two fulls hand of garbage end up on the street. I guess this is something we have all seen at least once.
Now let's see what we have to nail this guy (or girl). First, I took a
snapshot of the license plate, I took a photo of the trash that was
thrown into the street by using my camera on my phone by hand. Then I used my GPS to pin-point my exact location, and last but not least, I sent an sms to the registration information of the vehicle 1717.
Ok what next? I have all the information, but I can not do something as well as the technology is there, it can not be utilized in Indonesia to Jakarta a little cleaner because there is no Eco and / or police Milieu.
Sure smarts phones support the rapid cellular market, and we provide a wide range of applications. Blackberries, Androids and iPhones are here to stay. Let's see how these phones can contribute to a greener world?
Given the above story, I also recognize that most applications which have a positive impact on the ecosystem will not work in Indonesia.
I started using my phone to write the parking level, and other relevant information in my mobile to find my way back when parked in a mall instead of using a pen and paper or even worse written on my hand. For sure this is a small contribution, but we must start somewhere. Today you have running applications on your smartphone to hand that will do the same.
For example, the iPhone has an application called iPark. IPark this app find your car using the GPS locator iPhone and . maps to mark the location of your parked car and then plots a route back to the location to save you from spending your energy to determine where you parked .
There are two options, the first is to remember the current
location, while the second you plan a route to previously
saved location.
Living in a city with traffic jams almost around the clock, we can save a lot of fuel knowing beforehand where the hot spots are. Websites like lewatmana.com and macatlagi.com will give us information on the road conditions so that we can change our route and start saving on gasoline and reduce air pollution. These applications will run on any mobile device with an Internet connection.
In addition to this, you can set the route fasting using your GPS route planner, or find your way from A to B without getting lost.
A much larger project green roofs. Although maybe you do not see the
relationship with the smart phone, let me explain. A green roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation. This vegetation will keep the building cooler and therefore the electricity bill will be lower than we can bring more industry. It will also collect rainwater which could be used for toilet flushing.
The companies that are interested in the implementation of this idea can sell a piece of their garden green roof for individuals. Those who buy a piece of garden can see the progress of growth using their smart phone and it will work on a phone that has an internet connection.
There is also the 2D barcode in the background papers and magazines to add more information. Other programs are also possible as sweepstakes, lottery, and much more. All the main objectives are to reduce the paper and it will work on a camera phone, an Internet connection and has a bar code scanner.
Eco-Apps for Your Smart Phone
At last count, there were over 100,000 applications for smart phones. The vast majority are useless time-sucking, and as explained in the beginning most of them are not applicable in Indonesia, however here are those that are worth checking: (only works on Blackberry, iPhones and Androids except LinkedIn , . and .):
| iRecycle | Ecorio | Green Drive |
| GoodGuide | SugerTrip | Carticipate |
| Seafood Watch | PedNav | CraigsPhone |
| search tag | BreadCrumbz | green Explorer Widget |
| Walk Score | Teradesk | green phone |
| pollution | EcoFinder | |
| What -this on My Food? | Find Green | . |
| Green Gas Saver | Fuze Meeting | . |
| tissue Greenpeace Guide | Clear Standards Tracker Carbon |
There some of which may be useful here in Indonesia as information bottling, route planning, finding street names and how to get there. Undoubtedly, LinkedIn, . and . has become top online networking sites, so although it is not green applications in itself, it is a great way to connect with other people and green-minded or companies.
I would like to conclude with a declaration: It is not what it can do to the ecosystem, it's what you can do to the ecosystem by using IT as a tool
.